What Champion Means To Me
by PokeSpeBanette
Summary: To Red, becoming Champion meant becoming the best Trainer in all of Kanto. To others, it meant something else entirely.


Renny: Hey there! This isn't much of an AU, but I was thinking about something.

Green: Oh Mew . . .

Renny: Basically, after Red destroys him in the league, Green is seen collapsing. No one cares. And after the whole shebang stuff, Green _smiles_ at Red who smiles back, but why? Green isn't like that at all. He wouldn't be like that if someone just beat him down with some strategy that he didn't even see, so I got to thinking.

Red: This is a bad-

Renny: What Red had actually talked to Green before the ceremony? They might have made amends, or something, so I'm gonna try and make a story from what I think could have happened.

Green: That's actually pretty smart.

Renny: Aw, thanks! Oh yeah, be prepared for some angst. Mainly from Green. Disclaimer!

Red: Renny doesn't own pokemon!

Renny: On with the show!

**OOOOOO**

**-Pokemon league-**

As soon as Red fell to the floor, he laughed. Almost desperately, but it was a happy laugh. He looked at the faces of his three pokemon, the ones who had been with him from the start.

Poli, his first ever pokemon, a Poliwrath. Saur, given to him by professor Oak, a Venusaur. And finally, Pika, caught being a street rat (pun), still a Pikachu but powerful.

They had helped him to win the last battle against his rival, an arrogant boy who thought he'd win just because his team were higher levelled and 'stronger'. Red sat up and grinned at his team again, ignoring the still cheering and talking crowd.

"Well, we did it." He told them. All three cheered at him. "This is all because of you three. I swear, this is the best day of my life ever!"

But then he paused. Something in the corner of his eye made him stop his own celebrations, causing confusion with his pokemon.

"Pika?" Pika asked, tugging on his jacket.

Red glanced down at the rodent, but then looked over to where Green was supposed to be standing.

The boy wasn't even standing up. He was actually hugging his unconscious Charizard's neck, but Red couldn't see the expression on his face because the huge dragon was blocking Red's vision with his head spikes.

Red stood up and wobbled slightly before he stopped. He took an experimental step forward, and found that he could walk without falling on his face. The crimson eyed boy made his way over to Green and Charizard, and crouched down when he got close enough.

"Green?" He called quietly.

Green didn't react to his words straight away. At first Red was worried this sort of defeat in front of hundreds of people was too much for him, but then Green looked up, and Red saw it was even worse.

Green wasn't crying or anything. No, he wasn't. But Red could see he wanted to, but wasn't going to because . . . Red didn't know why he was holding back. Then Red understood that the Championship meant even more to Green than it ever could for himself. But he didn't know why. Red didn't know what he'd done wrong.

"You ok?" Red asked. He never expected to be asking Green that again, not after the whole Lavender town thing.

Green didn't say anything, but he did nod. It was so small Red almost missed it, but he saw the slight movement. He was lying. Green was not ok.

"_We have a break for half an hour, and then please come back to the stadium for the awards ceremony!" _The announcer suddenly called.

Red looked around as the crowd, still chatting and cheering, started to file out of the stadium. He repeated the announcer's words in his head, and nodded to himself.

"Come with me." He said, offering his hand to Green. He could see the question in Green's eyes, but Red didn't explain.

Eventually, Green stood, but didn't accept Red's hand. He kept his own hands to himself, as if he was afraid of touching anything other than his Charizard, which he returned with a small shiver. It was almost like Green was taking away any sort of barriers and leaving himself vulnerable by taking away Charizard.

Red turned around and smiled at his team one more time, then he returned them all with a whispered 'thank you' to each of them. Then Red turned back to Green and gestured for him to follow.

Instead of rebelling, like Red expected him to, Green followed without question. That worried Red even more, but he said nothing as he walked to the dressing room the league people had given him for the finals.

By the time he got to the door, Green's face was almost completely blank, save for a small flicker in his eyes which told Red he wasn't shutting out everything. Again, Red thought that maybe he'd done something wrong.

Red opened the door and held it open for his rival, but Green just stared at him.

"Go on." Red said, after a few seconds.

Green looked at the room, and then at Red. He took a step back and shook his head silently. Red sighed.

"Green, I'm offering here." He told the boy. "You can go in first, ok?"

Again, Green shook his head. Red didn't know why, and if he didn't get an answer soon he was going to flip.

"Why won't you go in?" He asked. "I'm letting in you go in, so you're not barging in without random announcement."

Green shook his head again. Well, at least he'd ruled out one thing it could be.

"Then what?" Red sighed, exasperated. "Why won't you go in?"

Green spoke for the first time since the battle had been over.

" . . . You're the Champion." Green said.

His words somehow struck a chord in Red, and the way he'd said them . . . Almost like some sort of servant, talking to his Master.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Red asked, frowning worriedly.

Green didn't answer him. Red shook his head slightly, and the walked in himself. He turned around, and looked at Green again.

"Come on then." He said.

Finally Green walked in, but he was hesitant. Again, Red was reminded of how a servant acted around his Master, but Red was not Green's Master in any way or form. Weren't they supposed to be equals?

"What's the matter?" Red asked as he closed the door to his dressing room.

Green said nothing. He stood in the middle of the room, not even sitting down on one of the four chairs nearby him.

"You can sit down, if you want." Red told him. Almost immediately, Green went over to one and sat down, but kept his gaze on his knees.

Red brought another chair in front of Green, but not too close in case he was going to attack Red or something.

"What's wrong?" Red asked again. "Green, tell me what's wrong, please?"

" . . . Nothing." Green mumbled. Red noticed he was fiddling with something in his pocket.

"There's obviously something wrong, otherwise you'd be kicking off or something." Red said. "This isn't like you. What's wrong?"

"I told you, nothing." Green said, with a hint of his actual self.

"Oh? Then why did you nearly cry back at the field?" Red raised an eyebrow. Green looked up at him, but that didn't stop Red from asking.

"I . . . I was sad." Green finally told him.

"Why?"

"I lost. Anyone would be sad if they lost." Green murmured.

"Yeah, they would, but you reacted differently than sad. More like . . . you lost everything." As Red said those words, he realised they were actually true. "Is that what happened?"

" . . . Yes." Green whispered.

"Why?" Red asked again. "Why did you lose everything? You still have your Grandpa, and your sister who I've never actually met before, and you've still got that fame from-"

"Exactly." Green snapped.

"What . . .?"

"I'm . . . I'm famous for the wrong reasons." Green told him, suddenly calm again. These changes in mood were slightly unsettling.

"Wanna tell me these 'wrong reasons'?"

" . . . My sister's a first-class coordinator. My Grandfather's a past pokemon Champion and a world-famous professor." Green said. "And I'm . . . nothing."

"You're not nothing!" Red exclaimed.

"Yes I am. I can't live up to them." Green said. "Therefore I'm nothing."

"How do you figure that? You might be better than them." Red smiled, but dropped it when Green actually glared at him.

"You don't get it, do you?" Green asked with venom. "I'm not any good at contests, so I can't be like Daisy. I'm not at all smart, at least not with science and stuff, so I can't be a professor like Grandpa."

"What about the Champion . . . ship . . ." Red froze just as the words left his mouth.

Green couldn't be the Champion because Red was. Red had taken away the last thing Green could do to actually live up to whatever expectations people had set for him.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry, I didn't . . ." Red gasped. "I . . ."

"You didn't know." Green finished. "Right? No one does. Everyone expected me to be able to do . . . anything, because of who I'm related to. Grandpa, a past Champion and now professor. My sister Daisy, a first-class coordinator. Even my parents, who were both Champions at one point as well. No one in my family was ever second-best."

"And I . . . I broke that?" Red murmured in shock.

" . . . Maybe." Green sighed. "I'm not sure what I was even doing."

"What do you mean?" Red asked, looking up again.

"I think everyone knew I was going to lose." Green said. "Even when I had my first battle in the tournament. Everyone expected me to lose . . . Maybe."

"They couldn't have!" Red cried. "I mean . . . Your pokemon. They're strong, and you have amazing strategies-"

"Which came apart in every single battle I had." Green interrupted. "Like I said, I'm not smart. It might seem like it, but I only know big words and stuff. Anything else and I'm just . . . an idiot. I can't come up with elaborate plans because they're too transparent, and that's what I tried here, despite knowing the risks. Everyone destroyed whatever plans I had, even if they didn't mean to."

"Oh." Red murmured. "So, you almost lost every time you had a battle?"

"Yes. I only barely got to the finals." Green said. "Even if everyone expected me to be the next Champion . . . they also expected me to fail."

"That's . . . horrible." Red said shakily.

"I didn't think I'd get this far, to be honest." Green smiled a little, but it was a cruel and mocking one. "Then I saw your battles . . . The way you won effortlessly . . . I knew I was done for. I was hoping that Grandpa wouldn't resign so that you wouldn't win at the end, but . . ."

"Green, I'm sorry." Red told him.

"You don't have to be. It's mainly my own fault . . ." Green sighed.

"Well . . ." Red didn't know what to say to that. "Um, what's that in your pocket?"

"Oh, this?" Green took whatever it was out and showed it to Red. "I suppose I don't have to hide anything anymore . . ."

"Is . . . that a slinky?" Red blinked.

"I call it a Baby Slinky." Green murmured. It was like he was embarrassed. "Um . . . My Mom. She gave it to me one time when I was bored or something. Never had the heart to throw it away."

"Why not? I'm sure she'd understand." Red smiled.

"It's . . . all I got left of her." Green murmured.

"Oh . . ." Red's smile dropped again. "She's . . ."

"Dead." Green said bluntly. "Yeah."

"That another reason why . . .?"

"I wanted the Championship? Yeah. More to honour memories or something really, but it was also to live to expectations people gave me." Green said.

" . . . I'll resign then." Red nodded.

"What?" Green looked shocked.

"I'll resign, and you can take it."

"It doesn't work like that, Red." Green sighed. "Look, if the current Champion resigns, then it's given to the last title owner who had it. My Mom was the last one."

"Oh . . . What about your Dad?" Red asked. "You said he was a Champion as well."

"Let me rephrase that." Green said. "If the current pokemon Champion resigns from his or her post, it is given to the last pokemon Champion. However, if the last one isn't available, dead or otherwise, then it is given to the previous before him or her."

"So I can give it to your Dad." Red nodded. "Simple."

"You can't." Green said. "He's dead as well."

" . . . You're an orphan?" Red gasped.

"Yes." Green muttered. "And . . . anyone else who won the league is either dead or doing something else, like Grandpa."

"So . . . I can't resign?" Red asked. "Not even if I step down and you take it?"

"No. The runner up of the league can't take it by law, because they lost." Green told him, fiddling with the Baby Slinky. "I can't participate in any others either, because I lose in this one. That's the penalty of losing in the very last round. You don't get another chance . . ."

Red didn't know what to say. He thought that maybe Green was just sad he'd lost, and would get over within a few minutes. But no, the reasons ran a lot deeper. And now Red was being told that his rival, practically the only one to ever challenge him on any level (Giovanni not included), wasn't able to enter into another pokemon league, ever again. No wonder Green was reacting like this.

Green didn't have another chance to make people believe he was good enough, and he didn't have another chance to honour his parents' memories.

All because of Red.

"Green I . . ."

"Red, it's ok." Green mumbled. "I don't . . . really care anyway."

"You do care." Red said, looking up. "Back in the field, you nearly cried. I know why now, but . . . You care. You care about this more than I ever will do, and because I was selfish and took it away . . . You can't do this ever again."

"Red . . ."

"I'm sorry." Red said, trying not to cry himself. "I didn't read the rules. I didn't know anything except that I wanted to win, if only to show that I could . . . I'm the worst person in the world ever . . ."

"No you're not." Green mumbled.

"I'm not? Green, I did this!" Red cried. "I stopped you from doing what you wanted . . ."

"And you acknowledge that." Green told him. "Most people wouldn't care enough about me to ask if I was alright, or even drag me here to ask me what's wrong. If they did, and I told them, they wouldn't care. You do. And . . . that's alright. I wanted the Championship so badly, I still do, but . . . It wouldn't be right if I had it. It's yours and you keep it, don't ever give it up."

"Wha- Green . . ." Red breathed.

"Red, I . . . Just . . . I don't know what I'm meant to say." Green mumbled, looking away from him.

"You just said everything you ever could." Red smiled. He reached forward and took hold of Green's hand, the one playing with the Baby Slinky.

"I . . . I know." Green nodded a little, looking down at their joined hands.

"So . . . You're not sad anymore?" Red asked.

"I still am on some level." Green told him. "But . . . I don't care anymore. You'd do a better job of being Champion than I could, so . . ."

"I promise I'll stay Champion as long as I can." Red said. "In fact, until the day I die."

"I'll hold you to that promise." Green smiled. Red grinned back.

They stood up, and Red took his hand from Green. The Baby Slinky came out and dropped to the floor. Red laughed and picked it up, and gave it to Green.

"Thanks." The boy mumbled, putting it away again. "Um . . . Does this . . . Does this make us . . ."

"Make us what?" Red asked.

" . . . F-friends?" Green asked quietly.

" . . . Yeah." Red smiled again and nodded. "It does."

"I . . . never had one before. I don't know what to do." Green mumbled. Red clapped him on the shoulder and grinned toothily when he looked up.

"Then I guess it's time you found out." He said. Green nodded.

The awards ceremony came in a short time. Red went up to get his award; money and a gold medal. As he was being handed them, he looked down at Green, who was sitting near the stage that had been set up, and grinned.

Green grinned back, fiddling with the Baby Slinky again.

**OOOOOO**

Renny: This is probably the one of the best one-shots I ever wrote, and I wrote it in such a short amount of time.

Red: It is actually good. And I guess it explains why me and Green were alright at the end of the thingy.

Renny: That's what I intended! See, I can write good stuff! Now hopefully people will actually read this and review it . . . I'm sick of hardly ever getting any reviews.

Green: This is the only one-shot I liked.

Renny: Uh-huh. Read, REVIEW and comment!


End file.
